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OT: Need new laptop
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My wife just hired a new employee who is going to work about 66% in
the office, 33% at home. We want to give this gal Karen's existing
laptop and buy a new one.
Our only experience has been with the two Toshibas we own, one for
Karen and one for my son. We have had zero problems with these two.
Karen is not necessarily a "power user" but would like a large screen.
Having a 10 key numeric pad is also a plus, she is using a external
USB pad now.
While at Best Buy yesterday, she looked at a Toshiba P105-S6084:
About $1450
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If nothing else, the same machine (Inspiron E1705) with similar
hardware configuration is ~$1135 from Dell. I figure you have all of
the "productivity" software you need already.
I've been running a Dell laptop for 6 years - still works. FWIW, I've
never had a hardware problem with any computer. Every catastrophic
failure I've ever had was Windows-related.
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The business has changed a *lot* in the last 6 years. Cost
to the manufacturer rules. 6 years ago we were probably still
building lap tops in the US. Everything is now in China, or
even more 3rd world locations.
I'm biased, but I've had good luck with HP products.
I just bought a new one for home. My work laptop has commuted
almost daily on my motorcycle for over 3 years. Other than a replaced
disk drive at 2.5 years, (a problem on any laptop), it's been doing great.
Being a specialist in interconnect and thermal design, I would
definitely stay away from any of the non-mainstream brands.
If it boots up, they ship it out the door.
-Jeff Deeney- DoD#0498 NCTR UTMA BRC COHVCO AMA
'99 ATK 260LQ-Stink Wheels '94 XR650L-HellSickle
We don't stop riding because we get old, we get old because we stop riding.
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I replace a LOT of hard drives and occasional mainboards. Windows
doesn't "fail" on its own. It needs user input to do that. 100% of
all hard drives are going to fail.
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Processor Type * : Core™ Duo
Processor Number * : T2300E
Processor Speed * : 1.66GHz
Operating System * : Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Memory Size * : 2048MB
Display Size * : 17.0"
Display Type * : Widescreen XGA+ with TruBrite™ Technology
Display Resolution * : 1440x900
Graphics Chipset * : Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Graphics Memory * : 32MB-128MB dynamically allocated shared
graphics memory
Hard Drive Size * : 120GB
DVD "Multi drive"
Wireless LAN, media card reader, fingerprint reader security blah,
blah, blah...
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This is way more than what's needed to run Word + Excel... :-)
Sorry, I can't help anymore, never had a laptop, they are too expensive
to me. I have a good desktop, or at least I tought I had, this config
above is more than I have on my desktop:
amd sempron 2800+ 1.5GB ram, 80GB hdd, cd write + dvd read combo, 256
video card and Word starts really fast... :-)
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I've had pretty good luck so far with Dell desktops, having bought
about 10 over the last few years. Any idea how they do with their
laptops?
Any feedback on Sony?
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Personally, I can't stand Sony and their proprietary attitude towards their
products.
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ALL laptops are completely proprietary. Except for the hard drives.
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Advice and/or counsel?
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I've had good experiences with several HP desktops and the laptop I've been
using for over 3 years. Yes, they come with a ton of krapware pre-installed,
but it is easily removed. The only questionable thing I see on the computer
you're interested in is the installation of Windows Media Center Edition.
Unless you have an interest in hooking the laptop up to your home
audio/video system, it makes no sense to have it on a laptop. There are some
significant hardware requirements to run many of the features of MCE as well
as some software overhead. If this laptop will be doing mostly internet
surfing, business apps like Office, and some occasional multimedia chores, a
plain Windows XP SP2 is a better choice. Also, if Windows Vista may be in
your future, make sure the laptop is Vista-compatible.
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DJ, the deals change daily, so check often until you find what you
want. The site (Got Apex) scans the Dell, HP, etc. websites and
instructs you on how to get the deals, such as $630 for a screaming
laptop w/ widescreen! Our IT guy showed us this site when we were
talking about getting personal computers, and said he wouldn't go
anywhere else. Good luck!
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Stick with Toshiba. They make great laptops and stand behind them
should they break.
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But don't buy it at Best Buy. They don't count non-Best-Buy service as
a repair counting toward complete "lemon" replacement (possibly part of
their additional warranty service). Originally BB would give you a
replacement if your laptop had to be repaired three times. Then at some
point it switched to four, didn't count Toshiba factory-authorized
service, and it ended up being 7 repairs before the friend got her money
back.
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Mike Baxter
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